Sanders: The Iowa Democratic Party ‘screwed up’ in delivering results

Manchester, N.H. — Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) slammed the Iowa Democratic Party’s (IDP) handling of the caucus results on Thursday, saying at a New Hampshire town hall that the party “screwed up.” 

“It is really sad that the Democratic Party of Iowa screwed up the counting process so severely,” Sanders told CNN’s Anderson Cooper, adding that the scenario “distressed” him. 

The Democratic National Committee (DNC) called for a recanvass in Iowa amid the fallout and chaos over the delayed results of Monday’s caucuses. 

“Enough is enough. In light of the problems that have emerged in the implementation of the delegate selection plan and in order to assure public confidence in the results, I am calling on the Iowa Democratic Party to immediately begin a recanvass,” DNC Chairman Tom Perez said in a tweet. 

The announcement came after a New York Times report revealed that the results contained errors and inconsistencies that contradicted caucus rules in some cases, although the newspaper noted that there was no evidence the inconsistencies were intentional.

Former South Bend, Ind., Mayor Pete Buttigieg leads Sanders by a tenth of a percentage point among Iowa State Delegate Equivalents (SDEs) with 97 percent of precincts now reporting. 

The Associated Press said on Thursday that it could not declare a winner because of the tight margin between Sanders and Buttigieg, as well as the irregularities in the year’s caucus process.